An Indian anthropologist, Chandra
Thapar, made a study of foreign cultures which had customs similar to those
of his native land. One culture in particular fascinated him because it
reveres one animal as sacred, much as the people in India revere the cow.

The tribe Dr. Thapar studied is called
the Asu and is found on the North American continent north of the Tarahumara
of Mexico. Though it seems to be a highly developed society of its type, it
has an overwhelming preoccupation with the care and feeding of the rac - an
animal much like a bull in size, strength and temperament. In the Asu tribe,
it is almost a social obligation to own at least one if not more racs.
Anyone not possessing at least one is held in low esteem by the community
because he is too poor to maintain one of the beasts properly. Some members
of the tribe, to display their wealth and prestige, even own herds of racs.

Unfortunately the rac breed is not very
healthy and usually does not live more than five to seven years. Each family
invests large sums of money each year to keep its rac healthy and shod, for
it has a tendency to throw its shoes often. There are rac specialists in
each community, perhaps more than one if the community is particularly
wealthy. These specialists, however due to the long period of ritual
training they must undergo and to the difficulty of obtaining the right
selection of charms to treat the rac, demand costly offerings whenever a
tribesman must treat his ailing rac.

At the age of sixteen in many Asu
communities, many youths undergo a puberty rite in which the rac figures
prominently. The youth must petition a high priest in a grand temple. He is
then initiated into the ceremonies that surround the care of the rac and is
permitted to keep a rac.

Although the rac may be used as a beast
of burden, it has many habits which would be considered by other cultures as
detrimental to the life of the society. In the first place the rac breed is
increasing at a very rapid rate and the Asu tribesmen have given no thought
to curbing the rac population. As a consequence the Asu must build more and
more paths for rac to travel on since its delicate health and its love of
racing other racs at high speeds necessitates that special areas be set
aside for its use. The cost of smoothing the earth is too costly for any one
individual to undertake, so it has become a community project and each
tribesman must pay an annual tax to build new paths and maintain the old.
There are so many paths needed that some people move their homes because the
rac paths must be as straight as possible to keep the animal from injuring
itself. Dr. Thapar also notes that unlike the cow, which many people in his
country hold sacred, the excrement of the rac cannot be used as either fuel
or fertilizer. On the contrary, its excrement is exceptionally foul and
totally useless. Worst of all, the rac is prone to rampages in which it runs
down anything in its path, much like stampeding cattle. Estimates are that
the rac kills thousands of the Asu in a year.

Despite the rac's high cost of its
upkeep, the damage it does to the land, and its habit of destructive
rampages, the Asu still regard it as being essential to the survival of
their culture.